Pokemon: Smoke and Mirrors
by ZookZook
Summary: Mike Shinobi comes from a family of Elite Trainers. They competed everywhere, until his mother disappeared at a competition. His father, Jason, had to give up training and take up a day job. He retired in shame and was never able to enter the Indigo League. Now, years after his mothers disappearance, it's his turn to fill his parents shoes. One way or another.
1. Chapter 1

I remember that afternoon. I remember sitting in my father's lap watching the competition. Mom was on the farther side of the arena, but we couldn't afford better seats, even though they both worked part time at various places. But you know what I remember the most? The lights. Not just the cameras and the big screens, but the circular balls of light. They floated around the arena flashing an array of colors. I reached out to touch one and they all popped in a firework fashion.

"What a stunning performance, and victory, to Misses Anna J Shinobi!" The speakers screamed making me cover my ears. I closed my eyes and let out a whine. My small hands were pretty small and were pretty useless at covering my ears. I felt warm hands cover over mine and looked up to see Jay., my dad. He had warm green eyes and black hair combed to they right. That's all I can remember about his face.

I looked up at the big screen. Though my ears were now properly covered, I found it quite easy to hear. But I don't remember the sounds, I remember the blurry picture. She had light blonde hair and hazel eyes that shone bright. My memory of mom is pretty blurry, but I know I would recognize her if I saw her.

That was over five years ago, right before I started trainer academy. My mom had left after that competition, never saying goodbye. Dad was devastated. At the age of twenty five he was forced to retire from his pokemon journey early and start a job at a pokeshop in Lavender Town. He was miserable , but he knew it was best for me. He had kept around his team for a few months, but he slowly let them go and continue their journeys. Some were easy to leave, others left in tears or were practically forced to leave by Dad.

Today, only one pokemon remains with us, one sandslash named Anderson, or Andy for short. Jason and Andy have been best friends since forever. Dad had tried to get Andy to leave, to use his talents as a gym pokemon in Viridian., but he refused to leave. Dad even forced him out of the house because he refused to join a trainer to challenge the Vermilion Gym. That night I woke up to find Dad carrying his unconscious body inside. I found him the next morning asleep in an armchair with Andy on his lap. The two of them had been together since the beginning with Andy as a substitute starter, similar to one I am going to receive.

After that he stopped trying to force him out. That was four years ago. now we live semi-happily in a two person apartment with Dad and Andy on one bed and me on the other. Andy was rarely ever in his pokeball mainly because Dad never forced his pokemon to be. He always believed that pokemon should be allowed to roam free and that they make great traveling partners. He encouraged me to always have at least one pokemon out with me while at my journey, even though my teachers said that it may be dangerous.

My teachers are terrible. They completely disagree without everything my Dad has ever taught me and have no respect for him or me. They have all of these dumb ideologies and rules. 'Don't feed the starly Shinobi", 'You can't take the bidoof on a walk Shinobi', 'Shinobi you may not let the ekans out of its cage!'. They never allow me to actually have FUN with the pokemon or to let them have any freedom or enjoyment. It's sickening. I'v protested with Dad about it, but he doesn't have time after work to go to meetings about it or know other people who would do it. So I've been forced to live with the unfair rules of the school, or more importantly the pokemon had to deal with the school.

The only bright side of the school is the chance to make myself a better trainer and I receive a substitute starter of my choice. I'm allowed to receive said pokemon because of the absence of my mother and my Dad being great friends with the guidance counselor. Either way I receive the pokemon of my choice after graduation, which was yesterday. So today I get to go to the academy and receive a substitute starter. And by today I mean five minutes from now and I have no car to take me down their since my dad forgot me or bike to ride down their because mine has a flat.

I threw on my backpack and ran down the hall toward the elevator. I spammed the button and after a few seconds said screw it and hit the stairs. It was only a few stories up and its not like I'm lazy or anything. I ran down two flights of stairs and only most tripped on my untied, white shoes. I ran out the door and took off to my left went down a couple blocks took a left and continued my way through the streets.

After about ten minutes, only getting partly lost, I came across the front gates to the academy. The academy was a relatively small building with very large lots outside, since most of the day was spent outside. The grass was worn down for the most part and the building was a boring tan-ish color with a green roof. The gates were solid black attached to brick walls that surrounded the entire academy.

Usually the lots were empty, minus students, fields, and a few picnic tables, but today there were tents and cages out with various pokemon in them. As I walked through the gates, it became easier to see a large amount of students walking around to the different tents. There were pokemon of all different types, regions, sizes and personalities, but I already knew where I was going. I walked into a small tent that had no other students in it. Inside were a couple small cages and glass containers filled with sneasel and duskulls. As I walked toward the back of the small tent, a familiar lady greeted me.

She was dressed in a color very similar to that of the school and had on light blue jeans. Her brown hair was tied up under a matching hat and she had a black pearl necklace loosely hanging around her neck. "How are you doing Mikey?"

"Great Miss K, how are you?"

"I'm fine and had just helped a few sneasels from Cary Street. Poor souls were abandoned in a gutter!"

"That's disgusting! I'm so glad that you were able to help them." I took a short pause before I asked her. "Where's you know who?"

She grinned. "I was wondering how long it would take you to ask. She's in that corner."

I smiled and thanked her before walking over there.

A year ago I had been walking down the street late at night. It was in the middle of December and had snowed last night. I had just left the bowling alley down the street from the hotel and called Dad to tell him I was on the way. But as I walked under the full moon, I could hear cries coming from the alley to my left. I slowed my walking and peered into it. I was always told to stay on the sidewalks where it's safe, but today... I couldn't just ignore it. As I took a few steps into the alley I could make out a small figure crying and shaking in the snow. She was covered in snow and the red and black of her was barely visible in the snow. I picked her up and my arms and ran down the streets of town. I took out my phone and told Jason, I called him by is full name, to get the car ready and I'll meet him outside.

After I got in with the small whitish-black creature I took off my jacket and wrapped it up She was shivering and had her eyes tightly shut. i brought her close to my chest and started whispering that she would be okay. Five minutes later, Dad got out an took her out of my arms. He sprinted inside and I got out behind him, chasing them down. I could see her eyes staring out from over his shoulder. Her brilliant blue eyes peeked out at me, panic rising as they went further and further away.

I met them in the hospital room a couple minutes later. She was wrapped in a heating mat. Dad was asleep on the chair against the window and a nurse had left them both warm meals on the table. I sat down in the chair beside the hospital bed. I was later getting to the hospital room because I had to give a report for the nurse to give to the officers. I took a sandwich off the table and took a bite. After I took a bite, I saw movement on the bed. Her eyes were open and her nose was wiggling.

I couldn't see it earlier, but she dark grey fur with red fur on the top of her head and on her paws. She looked starving and, judging by the thinness of her stomach, I'm sure she was. She stood up and walked over to me hesitantly as I still had my half a sandwich. "Hey, don't worry. Here's a bite for you."

I took the other half a sandwich and handed it to her. She grabbed it in her jaw and gobbled it down in a few bites. I giggled and she smiled slightly before her stomach growled again. "Alright, alright, I'll get you some more food. Just hang on a minute okay."

I stood up and went to leave the room, being careful not to wake Dad up, but as I went to go she hopped down from the hospital bed. As her feet hit the floor her hind left leg gave out. "Hey, take it easy! Here, let me carry you." I picked her furry, bony body and carried her out the door. I walked only a few steps into the hall before running into a nurse.

She had long, blue hair and aquamarine nurse's clothes. Her skin was a dark-ish color that reminded me of caramel. "Excuse me, what are you doing with the patient?"

"She seemed hungry so I was going to go get her some food, but when I went to leave she tried to follow me."

She took a step forward and outstretched her arm. "Here let me take her to the-" Just then she jumped out of my arms and ran away down the hall, limbs back in full swing. I stood a second before chasing after her down the hall. "Hey! Get back here!"

I ran around a sharp bend and came across her lying in the middle of the floor staring out the window. I walked over to her and she hissed at me. I took a step back and stared out the window. It was a beautiful sight to see. The moon was huge and there were various shadows of drifblim passing over, there shadows passing over us.

"Zo zorua ru." She walked over to me and rubbed up against my leg.

I sighed. "Oh, so you're calm now?" She yawned and brought her paws up to my legs. I picked her up and she leaned her head against my chest. I felt a piece of paper scratch against my neck. I picked around her next until I found a paper tag that read ZORI. "Zori, huh? You sure are a handful."

I took her back to the hospital room and that nurse was waiting for me. Zori, now a little bit more calm, was placed back on her bed and was rewired to her monitoring devices. The nurse left for a minute and came back with a warm tray of PokeChow. She left a few minutes later. I checked the clock on my X-Transceiver (X-Trans). I walked over to Jason and shook him awake, much to his disapproval. We left the hospital a few minutes later, but the moon was much smaller.

Zori was taken out of the hospital a week later, and I visited her everyday at the Pokemon Shelter. Miss K, had put in a special request to have Zori put on hold and into the Substitute Starter Program for me.

"Zoru a rua!" I was brought out of the past by Zori's cries. I smiled and picked her up out of her cage. She was much thicker now, not fat, but no longer anorexic. Her leg was much stronger and all of her injuries were healed long ago, though she still hated the cold. Her paper and plastic tag was cut off and replaced with black color with red letters that red ZORI and already had my trainer ID number etched into it. I picked her pokeball off of the ground next to her cage and she licked me in my face. I put her down and she ran off out of the tent.

"Uhhh! Zori! Get back here!" I smiled as I ran out of the tent after her. "Bye Miss K!"

I saw her turn a corner around another tent and when I came around I ran straight into someone and knocked them to the ground. "Hey watch it!" She was my age, obviously since she was getting a starter, and had blood red hair that covered half her face. She had milky white skin and had on jean shorts and a white T-shirt. "C'mon man what are ya doing running around like that!"

I blushed slightly and helped her up. "S-sorry I was chasing after my partner. Did she run by here?"

"You mean that fox-thing? Yeah she ran under me a second ago and nearly tripped me. Like trainer like pokemon I guess." She pointed to where Zori ran and then stopped off into a tent beside me.

I ran around another tent where she pointed and ran into someone, again. She had blood red hair that cover half her face and- wait a second. "Zori stop that!" I picked the girl up and she transformed into the grinning, lovable fox. "Now what are you doing running around like that? And why are you disguising like people? Do you know how rude that is?" She just giggled and bit me, not enough to hurt, but enough to make me drop her.

She landed perfectly and started rubbing up against my leg affectionately. "Uh-huh. Nice try foxy, but that's not going to make up for it." She pouted and started walking away from me. "No you don't." I picked her up and put her in my bag, her small head poking out of the black clothe. "You're staying with me Zori."

Just then my X-Trans buzzed and Dad had left me a voicemail. " Hey! Just thought I'd wish you good luck on your first day! I know you're ready for this and I'd like to apologize that I couldn't be there to see you off. Judging by your uncanny sense of time, I figured you'd be leaving pretty soon, so I won't keep you. Bye!"

"Huh, perfect timing!" I put my hand down and started walking toward the exit. As I got over there, I saw the girl I knocked over earlier. I walked up over to her and her group to apologize when one of them pointed at me.

"Is that the guy? Black shorts, hair, and grey shirt?" said the guy she was talking to. He had purple hair and a yellow sun visor. He had a matching yellow hoodie and black shorts. She turned around and nodded

"Yeah, that's him." She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to me, making sure I heard them. "HEY YOU, COME OVER HERE!" I walked up to the group, walking a little bit further from the exit. "What's your name?"

"Mike Shinobi. Sorry about earlier, Zori here loves to make problems." I turned my back so they could see her more clearly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Names April. Either way I think we have business to deal with." She took out a pokeball. "How about a friendly battle? Nothin' serious."

I grinned a little bit too much and probably looked insane. "Sure, just a little fun."


	2. Chapter 2

After April's challenge her and her and her purple haired friend split off from the group and moved to one of the battlefields. Her friend, who was named Jacob, decided to spectate and judge if needed. "I think it's time you learned to be careful!"

I sighed. "I already said I'm sorry and you know that I didn't mean to knock you down."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just making things interesting." she grinned and took out a pokeball. "Alright, one on one right? You're not just some advanced trainer that acts like he has one pokemon right?"

"I've never even heard of someone doing that." I set my bag down and Zori climbed out and stretched her legs before running onto the field. "Ready to go Zori!"

"Rua!" she nodded and a big grin spread across her face as she took a combat stance.

"Let's let 'em have it Riley!" as she said this she released a small, triangle-shaped pokemon. The Snorunt was slightly smaller than normal and had a determined expression on his face. "Ru sn snowrunt!" It looked strong, but him and April simply don't know each other as well as me and Zori.

I nodded and the other kid said the usual referee nonsense. "Ladies first." I called across the field.

She smirked. "Oh, so now you're a gentlemen."

I sighed. "Look I said I was sorry, now just let it go and lets battle already."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Riley use Leer!" At command, he narrowed his eyes and a second later, they flashed open in a bright, silver light. Zori covered her eyes with her front paw. Clearly she was disoriented, but she's still far from done.

"Zori, use Scratch!" She jumped forward, baring her front claws, and pushed the snorunt back as they dragged across him.

"Powder Snow!" Riley slash forward and released wave of snow across Zori's face. She shivered and rubbed her face while taking a step back. "Zori, Scratch again!" She looked back at me annoyed, but knew to trust me. She jumped forward again, claws outstretched.

"Dodge!" The snorunt jumped backwards.

"Zori, Pursuit!" Soon after Riley landed, Zori hit him to April's side of field cloaked in a dark aura. Already off balance from the dodge, the small-triangular pokemon took the fall even harder. "Great job Zori!"

"Zo zorua!" She smirked at

"C'mon Riley just hang in there! I don't want to lose our first battle!" He stood up, cringing as he did so. "Use Double Team!"

Focusing for a second with his eyes closed several other identical snorunts appeared around him.

"Now circle her and use Powder Snow!" Snorunt and his clones ran forward and, despite Zori's attempt to escape the snow and cold, surrounded her and covered her with powdery snow.

"Zori, you okay?"

She shook herself out of the snow and shivered. Her eyes were droopy and she was shivering. A lot. "Z-zo Zor-ru a." She nodded and stared at the snorunt army around her.

"You got this Zori, just pay attention! They might look the same, but one is hurt! Try using Scratch!" She nodded and dived toward the row of Rileys.

"Dodge!" The ring jumped back and landed safely. Except for one of them.

"There Zori! Use Pursuit!" Zori dove after the injured snorunt, a dark aura chasing after her. The clones faded away as Riley was knocked back to the sideline towards her trainer's friend. But this time, he didn't get up.

"This match goes to Mike Synopsis."

"Shinobi." I corrected him.

"Whatever." He picked up snorunt and carried him back over to April who ran and met him halfway. She took him in her arms and whispered something to him before returning him to his pokeball. She walked over to me as I picked a tired and cold Zori up.

"Who are you?" her eyes closed in on me.

"I told you. I'm Mike Shinobi" I said coolly.

She smiled. Not a smirk or laugh, but a legitimate smile. "The names April Bend." as she said this, she extended her hand. I took it in mine as Zori walked up to her, covered in dirt and bruises. "Hehe, how are you Zori?" she extended her hand to Zori.

Zori, with her usual snicker, transformed into April and- er well April's- hand to April. Of course, when April took her hand, Zori became her usual fox self. April, much more calm than earlier, let out a little giggle. "She's cute. You two work together really well, did you know her before today?"

"Yeah we've known each other for four years, but we never did a lot of training. Mainly we just walked around the city, doing tricks and exploring."

"Four years... Ha, know wonder I lost. I just met Riley today. In fact, that was my first battle...and defeat." her eyes turned downward at that last statement.

"Hey, don't be hard on yourself. You just got a new partner and almost beat people who have known each other for nearly half a decade." I turned to look at her friend. "What's your name?"

"Jacob Reed" He stared me down for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face. I extended my hand to him and he grabbed it very firmly to say the least. He turned back to her a second later, apparently done with me. "We need to get going. Daniel and the others will be waiting."

"Right. Hey Mike...Do you want to come with us?"

I was taken aback a little bit, but, seeing as I had no one else to travel with...

"Ummm... I guess. I don't really have anyone else to travel with."

Jacob sighed. "Fine Simon can come, but we have to go." he said angrily.

"It's Shinobi." I said annoyed.

He took a step towards me, practically nose to nose. "You want to come with us and then you insult me? Who do you think you are?"

"Mike. Shinobi." I growled.

"I know what your fucking name is!" He pushed me and stormed off. April took a step toward me.

"Ummm... I'm sorry about that. He really is a nice person, but... I really don't know what came over him there... Anyway, come on. I'm sure everyone else will be glad to meet you."

"Yeah I don't know about him, but you seem cool. Before we go we should hit the PokeCenter to heal up."

"Yeah good call. If only we had actually thought of meeting up there after we left the school where we would most likely battle other rookies." she smirked and started off toward the exit.

"Hey, no need to be smart about it." I turned and followed her

"Well, you might be the better battler, but that doesn't mean you're smarter than me." As she said this we pasted the school gate and continued toward the PokeCenter.

"I never said that!"

She giggled a little in a way that reminded me of Zori and I blushed. "Relax. I know we've just met, but you'll find out I have very weird sense of humor." And, as if on queue, Zori poked her way out of my bag. "Ru a zor." as she said that, she rubbed up against my leg. Her stomach growled and I realized just how late it was in the day.

"Hey, genius, what do you want to do about lunch? We aren't on the road yet, so there's no point in fixing our own stuff."

Now it was her turn to blush. "Well, I mean- I'm sure that Daniel will figure it out."

"No idea, huh?" I sighed. "Me neither."

We continued to walk in silence across town until Zori got tired. I stopped for a second and picked her up in my arms. Since it was hotter out I decided against putting in her inside the hot, black bag. A few minutes later we passed my house. I stopped a minute and went up to the door out of habit, but I stopped myself before I went in. Embarrassed, I turned back around to see a very confused April. Not wanting to explain my awkwardness, I walked on in silence.

A few minutes after that, we finally reached the PokeCenter to see a small crowd of three waiting outside. First I noticed Jacob. He was much calmer looking than earlier.

Beside him was a girl with jet black hair and a pink sunhat. She was wearing a short, light blue skirt and her skin was milky and flawless. Her shirt was a matching light blue and she had on a yellow waistband. Her legs poked out and led down to a pair of blue knee socks and black shoes. Under her sunhat long blonde hair flowed down her shoulders and past her hazel eyes.

Finally, there was a guy with his back to me. He had red blood red hair and a black jacket on. "Hey Daniel, Jacob, Luna!" April called to them. Tho others looked up and, the guy who must be Daniel, turned around. His eyes were blue and full of determination. Beneath his thin jacket was a red shirt and he had on a pair black cargo pants. He had a black baseball cap with a red pokeball and a very clean raven claw.

"That's the guy she found Dan." Jacob said to him, happiness gone.

"This is the guy?" he said and pointed at me. He reached out and shook my hand, his grip much nicer than Jacob's. He had a pretty big smile on his face and he seemed friendly enough. "Nice to meet ya, the names Dan!"

"As I'm sure Jacob here has told you the name's Mike."

No soon had we let go of our hands, Daniel was pushed out of the way and replaced by a very cuddly girl in blue. Her arms trapped mine to my side and she was surprisingly strong. "Oh my god! Your some cute and handsome! My name's Luna!." She opened her eyes and looked up at me. She let go of me and I let out a breath I didn't realize I had. "Sorry about that I've been told I'm a little aggressive." She blushed a little bit and stepped back.

Dan stepped back up in front of me. "Yeah, just a little bit Luna." He sighed. "Anyway, Jacob here ways you are pretty good a battling and that you were about to travel alone?"

"Yeah, I never really got close to a lot of people at school."

"Yeah we never really saw you around after school." Jacob piped in. "What did you do? We were all in the pokemon extras class."

"I went to the PokeShelter to play with Zori and the other pokemon there." Hearing her name Zori woke up from her nap and hopped to the ground to stretch her legs. However, before she hit the ground, Luna picked her up in a death hug similar to mine.

"SHE"S SO CUTE!" she squealed. "What an adorable dark, trick fox, and, and, I LOVE HER!"

Zori squirmed out of her arms and ran behind me, pouting. "Oh, come on Zori be nice!" I picked her back up and put her down in front of me. "Anyway, I spent, like, all of my time with her. See I met her..." I continued to tell them about how I met Zori and Jacob, obviously not caring, went and healed everyone's pokemon for them. Including Zori, surprisingly.

After I was done, Jacob broke the silence. "So, are we going to travel with this guy or what?"

"He seems cool and its always the more the merrier. But," Daniel said,"We are going to have a little battle first, okay Mike?"

"I guess. Zori and I are always ready, right girl?" She snickered and nodded. "Point to a field and we're ready to go."

"This is so exciting!" Luna cried. "There's a field at the back of the PokeCenter. C'mon!" The hyper girl sprinted toward the back of the center. The rest of us followed her to the back.

Sure enough, there was a field at the back of the center and Luna was already waiting at the sideline. Daniel walked to the other end of the field, pokeball in hand, and April stepped up as the ref. She gave the usual ref speech and we sent out our pokemon. I obviously sent out Zori and awaited Daniel's pokemon. But I didn't have to wait long.

"Take to the air Tuesday!" he said as he threw out his pokeball. Tuesday was a small starly and was, quiet frankly, not intimidating. The small bird soared into the air and the battle officially commenced. "First move's yours Mike!" he yelled.

"Fine by me! Zori use Leer!" Zori's eyes glowed similarly to Riley's earlier and Tuesday flew closer to the ground.

"Defend your territory! Use Growl." Tuesday shook her head and let out a loud chirp as Zori grew close, scaring her off. "Now use tackle!" Tuesday dove down level to the ground and slammed into Zori. She slid across the field on her side and shakily stood back up. The fight had just started, but this tiny bird has a lot of power behind her.

"Careful Zori! She's faster than you!"

"Tuesday use Quick Attack!" Tuesday dived down in a white blaze, spinning as she came down. She barely clipped Zori before she got out of the way, knocking her off balance.

"Zori use Pursuit!" Before Tuesday took back off, Zori caught up surrounded in a black haze and jumped on her back, sending her face first into the ground. Tuesday tumbled a little bit before shaking herself back up.

"Up Tuesday!" Dan cried.

"Zori, stay on her!" Both pokemon followed commands perfectly, but, despite Zori's effort to pin Tuesday down, she slipped away and took back off.

"Good job Tuesday! Now dive!" On command, the faithful bird let out a deafening cry and took a drop toward Zori.

"Get ready Zori!" Zori braced herself to jump on the bird.

"Pull up and use Spinning Tackle!" I began panicking. Spinning Tackle? What is that? I didn't have to wait long. Tuesday pulled up and began spinning as she went. When she reached Zori her spinning wing slammed into her and drove her up and across the field. When the dust cleared and Tuesday landed, it was clear that Zori lost.

April called out her only command the entire match. "Zori is unable to battle! Daniel Bonner is th-"

"Oh gosh are you okay Zori!?" Luna cried as she sprinted onto the field. Before I could stop her, she grabbed Zori and sprinted into the pokecenter. We followed her inside with Tuesday riding on Dan's shoulder. "NURSE!" Luna was screaming at the top of her lungs for the nurse to come over to her. The nurse came sprinting down the stairs above and and quickly grabbed Zori. She ran Zori through some testing before handing her back to Luna, asleep.

"Ma'am, though I am happy that you knew to come to me, you do realize that this pokemon was not seriously injured? She was merely unconscious and was in no danger!" she said slightly annoyed.

"Thank you nurse!" she said ignoring the poor nurse's questions. "Hey guys! Zori's great now!"

Jacob sighed. "Great, now lets get going!"

Ignoring him I turned back to Dan as he handed Tuesday off to the very annoyed nurse. "Tuesday is actually really clever. How did you meet her?"

"My aunt and uncle raise and breed bird pokemon. They raised her from an egg and thought she'd be perfect for me, and she has been."

"That's actually really cool." I took a sleepy Zori back from Luna. I thought back to how I found Zori and wondered, once again where she came from, but for now I ignored such thoughts. "She was surprisingly tough despite her size."

He smiled. "Actually her size is an advantage. It makes her light weight, harder to see, and faster."

"Hmm. I guess that makes sense."

"GUYS!" Jacob yelled annoyed. Everyone turned to look at him and glared angrily. "Let's go! I want to get out of the stupid place and just- just leave."

Luna was the first one to speak up after several seconds. "Jacob, dude, you need to chill out."

"What do you know sis!" he snapped.

"Dude if you can't chill out you're going to have to leave." April said.

"Guys, we have to take him." Daniel said. "He's one of us, but they are right Jacob, you need to chill out."

"No, you know what, screw it and screw you all!"

"Jacob what the hell is wrong with you." Luna cried.

"Nothing's wrong with me! I just hate sitting here alright!"

"No d-ude, there is something going on and, unless you're going to tell us, you're not coming with us!" April said.

"Fine, I'll go by myself on my own journey! C'mon Luna." he said as grabbed her wrist."

"No way! The way you're acting now is insane and I'm not coming with you."

"But sis-"

"But nothing! Leave or get yourself together."

"Fine then!" he said as tears rolled down his face. "Screw all of you then!"

With that he stormed out, hands over eyes out into the world.


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't see how you two are related." I told Luna. It was a couple hours since Jacob left and we went off to a local restaurant. I ordered a cheeseburger with steak fries, Luna ordered a salad with coleslaw and apple slices, Dan April ordered wings and celery, and April ordered another cheeseburger with fries.

"Yeah, but he's never acted like that before. He's usually so nice and calm." she seemed sad. "I don't know what's going on with, but I hope a little bit of alone time will help him."

"Yeah I don't know either." said Dan between bites of hot wings. "He looked like he was about to kill somebody."

"He did push me earlier."

Luna practically spit out her water. "He would never! He's a die-hard pacifist! He doesn't even battle!"

"I completely forgot he did that!" said April.

"Yeah. He kept mispronouncing my name and just being a general dick, so I kept telling him my name and he got angry."

"We need to find him." Luna said as she got up. "NOW!" she yelled as she pulled me out of my chair. Several of the people in the restaurant turned to look at us and the others faces went red.

"Luna! Hold on!"

"What!"

"We have to pay for this first!" I cried.

"They'll handle it! You and me are going to go find him!" she yelled as she drug me out the door. It was pretty late at night at this point and the moon was nowhere to be seen. It was much cooler out now and felt nice. Really nice.

"Come on! I think I know where he would go." She took off down the street and I started chasing her. She was surprisingly fast and I had trouble keeping up with her. And then I lost her. I turned around a corner and came upon a road, the streets and sidewalks full of people. There were shops and restaurants along the street everywhere and pokemon were walking and flying around with various objects. The street led to a four-way round-a-bout and a huge fountain in the middle. Lavender Square.

"Luna!" I yelled. I pushed through people and pokemon alike trying to find the beautiful girl with blonde hair. I kept running trying to get a glimpse of her. I never did find her, but something else did happen.

"Attention Lavender Square!" I loud voice screamed across a loudspeaker. I, along with the rest of the people n the square, turned up to see a group of five people on the top of the largest skyscraper. Lights turned on them from somewhere to reveal them. They were all in matching uniforms except for the one in the middle. The only difference was the large array of hair color. The guy in the far left had light blue hair and next to him the girl had brown hair. The guy in the middle had the same clothes as the rest of them, except for a yellow baseball cap on top of him. Jacob.

"My name is Jacob Reed! I am the leader of the group known as the Dark Moon! We are here for one thing and one thing only! We want everything!" the group laughed. "Alright, alright, but seriously, hand over all of your pokemon and your trainer cards and we'll be on our way."

The crowd stared up at the slightly frightened, but not completely. "No?"

Jacob turned and talked to his associate on his right. Then he turned back and brought the loudspeaker back up.

"LET'EM GO!" he screamed.

Dozens of clean-cut people in black and white costumes hopped over the buildings all around us with ropes and harnesses. At the around ten trainers on staravia's came flying overhead. It was utter chaos as they released houndooms and other various powerful pokemon into the crowd. People were screaming and running while some trainers tried to fight them off. I stood paralyzed for a moment before taking off. Now I really needed to find Luna.

I was knocked around by various people going the opposite way, but kept upright and fighting through the crowd. People behind me were screaming as a houndoom attacked and chased them. People were being knocked down, but at this point it was every man for them self. No one is willing to lose there pokemon. No one.

"Screw off you overgrown mutt!" I heard her cry. I looked across the crowd to the other side of the street to see Luna and an espeon battling against a rather large houndoom. "Amara, use Tail Whip!" The smaller cat-like pokemon whipped it's tail across the hound's face. The hound shook it off and got angry releasing a spray of hot sparks out of his mouth. Amara took the brunt of the attack, clearly no match against the large dog.

"Luna! Get out of there!" I cried. She seemed to see me, but just as I started making my way over I was attacked by a smaller Houndoom. It's large teeth in my face it pinned me down as I yelled for my life. But just as I was about to get bit into pieces, a trainer, who I assumeis her trainer, pulled her off and sent her away. As she went to help me up, she disappeared to reveal Zori who had let herself out of her pokeball. I grabbed her and ran. "Thanks Zori I owe you one." She gave me a lick as I turned back around to find Luna.

I saw out of the corner of my eye a trainer with raven-claw hair and a girl beside him come up behind me. "Mike! Where's Luna!" Jacob called.

I looked back to where I last saw her. "I don't know, but I think she's okay! We need to get out of here!" I called. They nodded and lead the way out through the crowd of battles and flames. We turned a corner and ran down a few blocks. Police, fire rescuers, and rescue vehicles drove by and we decided to stop.

"What the hell happened!?" April said slightly out of breath.

"I don't exactly know. I was chasing Luna trough Lavender City Square when I lost her. All of a sudden there was a group of people on top of the building", I pointed to the highest skyscraper, "other there. And one of them was Jacob and th-"

"Jacob was a part of this?!" Dan said.

"He was there leader and they released a bunch of pokemon on the people in The Square!"

"MIKE!" I turned around to see Luna sprinting toward me. She ran up and squeezed me, tears running down her face. "He-he did this. He at-ttacked all those people and hurt me!" she let go and rolled down her sleeve to reveal a long scar going down her wrist. "They tried to take Amara!"

"Where is she and how did you beat that houndoom? It was huge!" I asked trying to calm her down.

"I returned her and a man in white came down with a kingdra and fought it off." she wiped her eyes and mascara rubbed off her face onto her hands.

"A man in white? I didn't see anyone in white nor did I see a- Hey look!" I pointed to the roof at the shadow of five figures running from rooftop to rooftop, all dressed in black. One of them stopped on the building above and threw something down. Right in front me was a yellow hat baseball cap. Luna took a shaky gasp and picked it up, pulling it close to her chest. I looked back up to see nothing but a starless sky.

...

An hour later it was late at night and we were sleeping in a hotel a couple blocks away. Me and Dan slept in one room and the girls in the other. Zori, Amara, and Riley slept on cushions on the floor while Tuesday slept on Dan's bed stand. It was a late night and Luna could occasionally be heard sobbing in the other room. It was hard to sleep in as I kept having visions of a large dog chasing me through the night in a blaze of fire. I couldn't even imagine what Luna was going through. Even though I just met her I had grown attached to her. I feel like I had known her all my life,as I did with the others. I mean, I've always grown attached to things quickly, but this is pretty quick. I guess Its just the stress and adventure that makes me want to be with them. You should never go through things like this on your own or with people you hate.

After one sleepless night, I woke up perfectly rested. If only. I was extremely groggy and sore. I was the first one up, so I decided to go ahead and get in the shower. The warm water calmed me and it was very relaxing. And then Dan walked in.

"Dude! I'm in the shower!"

"Hurry up man! You're not the only one that wants one!"

"Arceus! Just close the damn door!"

I got out and got dressed. I put on a a grey muscle shirt and red baseball cap. I also had on black basketball shorts and my outside shoes. A couple minutes later we were all dressed and showered as well. And by a few minutes I mean about an hour. Dan had on a blue shirt with cargo shorts and his usual black hat. April had on a white skirt with a green waistband and Luna had on a red tank-top.

Luna hadn't said a word since we got to the hotel last night. We went down the stairs to eat breakfast in silence. The pokemon were out together for a little bit. I took out my phone and took a picture of them. It was the first photot of all of them together. Zori and Amara got close pretty quickly both being cat-like. When I took the photo all of them were posing. Zori and Amara were laying together with Riley standing behind them and the small starly on his head. I sent it to the others when they gave me their numbers.

"So... how do you want to do this?" April said. "My parents took their first steps together. Do you want to do that?" We were standing at the gate that leads out of Lavender City. The police had released a report stating that the criminals had already left the city. Luna didn't say anything. To some people, this is just a gate, but to trainers here, its the first step.

"I'd rather make an oath." Surprisingly it was Luna who said this. "You all must promise to stay together through thick and thin. To be there for the gym losses and competition failures. For when we get sick and when we get hurt. We stand together alright?"

"Definitely. I mean I've already been through hell with you guys." I said sarcastically.

"Be serious." she said sharply. She had a seriousness that I've never heard before. "Now put your hands in and promise me that you will be there for each other!"

"I promise!" we said simultaneously.

"Good." she said and turned. We all followed her slightly behind her. It wasn't long until we came across another group of trainers. They had on various gear and seemed to have just left like we did. We decided to talk with them for a little bit as we were all going the same way. Except for Luna. She walked along quietly ahead of us.

"Hey, what's wrong with her." one of them named Trent said. "She seems kinda... y'know depressed."

"Ummm...It's not really my thing to tell people about." I didn't want to tell them why she was upset since they might take their anger from the attack out on her. "Sorry."

"It's fine." he smiled understandingly. "Does she battle?"

"Yeah, as far as I know."

"I think I'm gonna challenge her when we stop for lunch. Might make her happier." his grin widened.

Sure enough after the larger group had lunch a battle was called. One of them, I think his name was Kaleb, stepped up as the ref. The match was called to a start and Amara was released. The espeon twirled around and flickered her tail. She was rather small, especially compared to the rather large geodude Trent sent out.

"Amara use Tackle!" The small pokemon charged forward, but somehow still looked rather elegant.

"Rich use Defense Curl!" The geodude, presumably Rich, covered his arms in front of him and formed a defensive field. When Amara hit him he barely took anything, not only because he's a rock, but that move protected him. "Now use tackle!" the floating sphere propelled himself forward on command moving rather slowly.

"Amara! Dodge and use Sand Attack!" She easily dodged the rock's charge and swung at him with dirt and dust from the field. He started rubbing his eyes immediately.

"Stay on them Rich! Tackle again."

The blind rock obediently rushed forward. "Dodge and use Tail Whip!"

Amara didn't even half to dodge as Rich missed his attack. The pink cat swung her tail around and smacked the rock in the back of the head, surprising him. "Now use Tackle again." She followed it up with a charge into the stunned geodude. He tumbled back but immediately got back up, practically unscathed.

"Rich use Rollout!" He tucked his arms in and began spinning forward, slowly at first put slowly gaining speed. He slammed into Amara throwing her up in the air. She still, despite being hurt, landed gracefully.

"Alright Amara, try Confusion!" She brought her head down for a second before flicking it up to reveal pink, glowing eyes. Though nothing happened physically, Rich let out a cry and slowed down slightly. But only slightly as he rolled around randomly.

"Rich you need to focus!"

Trent's words reached him, but her couldn't follow the command in his confusion and instead hopped through the air and came to a crashing halt. "Amara finish this off with another tackle!"

Amara crashed into the stunned rock and knocked him back into his trainer, knocked out. The trainer pushed Rich off of him and returned him. Luna ran up to Trent and helped him up. "Oh man are you okay!"

He smiled. "Yeah I'm fine. That was a great battle by the way. Luna right?" He got up and shook her hand.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but I don't know your name."

He nodded. "Well if you would talk with us you would know."

She frowned and sunk her head. "But hey," she looked up at him. "fix that from now on, alright? You can't stay away from people when you're down. It's unhealthy."

He took her hand and they walked back towards the rest of the group. Luna spent the rest of the evening talking to the other group, especially Trent. That evening as a girl, I think her name was Marie, was cooking, the two of them went out to find more firewood. They came back laughing and giggling like they had known each other for ages. We ate, talked, and sung songs around the campfire. They sat together and sung the song Hey Delilah. But something about made me... angry.

-...-

Hey guys and gals! This is my first authors note and I would like to say thank you all for reading and that I am trying my hardest to put out as much content as possible. Please continue to follow this story and leave comments and reviews! Also let me know of any grammatical girl on the far right was a blonde and the guy next to her had green hair.


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